The beginning of this week was dominated by the cleanup following last Friday's blizzard. Then, it was a potpourri of news, where we wrote about everything from a man allegedly attacking a police officer with a garden statue to a controversial proposal by the governor.
As I’m sure you remember, last Friday Waterford was struck by a blizzard. The cleanup took this entire week, with school having to be cancelled on Monday and Tuesday because the roads were still bad. That forced Superintendent Jerome Belair to cancel one day of February vacation next week to ensure he would get the mandated 180 school days in by the end of June.
The cleanup took longer in part because of a decision by the town Friday night that went against Gov. Dannel Malloy’s advice. Malloy advised municipalities to plow throughout the blizzard, but Waterford took its plow drivers off of the road from around 9 Friday night and put them back on Saturday at 1 a.m.
First Selectman Dan Steward said the decision was made to protect the drivers, who could barely see in the blizzard conditions and two got their trucks tangled in downed wires. When they went back out again, there was so much snow on the roads front-end loaders were needed to plow the streets. Still, Steward said it was the right decision because it ensured the safety of the plow drivers, and many Waterford Patch users agreed.
But it wasn’t just snow stories this week. On Tuesday, Waterford Patch toured the new Waterford High School addition, which students are slated to move into in the beginning of April. A photo gallery of that tour proved to be one of the most popular articles of the week.
In what proved to be the strangest story of the week, we detailed an arrest this month on Wednesday of a 26-year-old Waterford man who allegedly assaulted his mom and came after a police officer with a garden statue. The man was restrained and eventually arrested by the police officer and was held on $100,000 bond.
On Friday, we detailed a proposal by Malloy to end the property tax on vehicles assessed below $20,000 and Steward’s opposition to it. Steward said removing this tax will just mean passing the property tax burden to homeowners and businesses and will mean minimal savings for the town operationally.
On Thursday, we had a story about Nancy Macione, and her recent announcement that she will be retiring as principal of Oswegatchie Elementary School at the end of the year after 12 years on the job. We later conducted an at-times emotional interview with Macione, who said she will miss the children dearly in her retirement.
In other news, Habitat for Humanity is moving its Restore to Waterford, Malloy wants the price of booze to go down and thousands protested for more gun control. Oh, and we almost forgot about this group of girls, and their flawless season…
